Abstract
This chapter follows the evolution of the Guyanese education system and traces the current difficulties it faces. Though a South American country, Guyana is closely associated with Caribbean culture, including its postcolonial legacies in institutions such as education. Guyana’s education system has transformed significantly, from being viewed as one of the best in the Caribbean in the 1960s to one of its weakest today. The first section provides an overview of how national educational trajectories were shaped by formal education during British colonialism and the numerous reforms that occurred in the immediate post-emancipation and cooperative socialism periods. This is followed by an overview of the institutional and organizational structures that make up Guyanese education today. There is also a brief exploration of teacher training within the country. After an overview of educational trends, the final section concludes with some of the system’s current challenges.
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I’m grateful to Kelly Sundberg for her research assistance on this piece and to Richard Arnold for his editorial and technical assistance. This chapter draws upon previously published work in Jules and Williams (2016).
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Jules, T.D. (2021). The Education System of Guyana. In: Jornitz, S., Parreira do Amaral, M. (eds) The Education Systems of the Americas. Global Education Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93443-3_27-1
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